Aarav Aarava
Aarav Aarava (born December 31, 1995, pictured right in 2022) is a British driver in the MyDriver Universe, who made his debut in 2015 and will complete his final season in 2022. He races for Ferrari and is regarded as the best driver of his generation, having won three world titles out of a possible seven and having won the most races (14) in the MyDriver Universe. He also holds the records for the most points (1307), the most fastest laps (31), the youngest race winner (19 years and 172 days old) and the youngest champion (19 years and 295 days old). He is by far the most successful driver in the MyDriver Universe. His driver number is 7. Stats Wins: '''14 '''Podiums: '''48 '''Fastest Laps: '''31 '''Championship Titles: '''3 '''Teams McLaren (2015) Mercedes (2016-17) Red Bull (2018) Jaguar (2019-21) Haas (2021) Ferrari (2022) McLaren (2015) After he won the F3 series in 2013 and the GP2 series in 2014, McLaren signed 19-year-old Aarav Aarava (pictured right at the 2015 British Grand Prix) to drive after parting ways with Kevin Magnussen. This would be a big challenge for the young driver as the 2015 McLaren MP4-30 proved to be far superior than its 2014 counterpart with its new Honda engine, and looked like it could challenge for titles. In his first F1 season, Aarava partnered 2009 champion Jenson Button, who looked to be the number one driver in testing, but in the first round of the season, held at Bahrain, Aarava finished 5 places ahead of his senior teammate, in 2nd. He had a very consistent first half of the year, with a 2nd, a 6th, a 3rd and a 5th, followed up by his first win at the 2015 Mexican Grand Prix in June. He had been matching Jenson Button's pace very well, and was 15 points ahead of him after these six rounds, 2nd in the championship, with McLaren looking like possible title contenders for the first time since 2010. By winning the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix, with rival Kimi Raikkonen not finishing the race, he took the championship lead by 23 points over Kimi Raikkonen. With continued poor showings from his rival, the lead expanded to 30 points after the British GP, with Lewis Hamilton in second place in the championship, driving for Mercedes. However, extremely poor showings from Aarava - 8th at the Italian Grand Prix and 6th at the Belgian Grand Prix, which left him on 155 points - allowed Raikkonen to take the lead over him again, by 5 points, with three rounds to go. At the same time, he was outperforming team-mate Button (languishing in 6th with 109 points) who had reached his peak, meaning it would be difficult to secure the constructors' trophy. In a turnaround of fortune, he barely clinched victory at the Abu Dhabi from Raikkonen and dominated a wet Australian Grand Prix, a race at which Kimi Raikkonen could only manage 7th. Aarava had a comfortable lead of 18 points over second-placed Raikkonen going into the final race, at Japan, but he still was not out of the clear. At a dramatic finale, Aarava fought back from a terrible qualifying to put himself back into the provisional lead, and fought to 3rd, to take the 2015 Drivers' Championship by 8 points, finishing with 220 points overall, and winning the inaugural season in the MyDriver Universe. Jenson Button also helped McLaren win the Constructors' Trophy. However, looking for a change of scenery, Aarava decided not to resign with McLaren, despite his obvious success. After extensive talks with both Christian Horner of Red Bull and Toto Wolff of Mercedes for a contract, he opted to sign a two-year contract with the latter's team, to drive alongside Pascal Wehrlein, a rookie for 2016. Mercedes (2016-17) 2016 It would be a large task for the reigning world champion to overcome the McLarens, Ferraris and Red Bulls, in a clearly fourth-best Mercedes. Aarav (pictured right at the 2017 Italian Grand Prix) got to grips with the Mercedes W07 in the first round in Bahrain; qualifying in sixth, superior to Wehrlein's ninth, he knew the W07 was a lot less competitive than its predecessor, the W06, and its competitors, the MP4-31, the SF16-H, and the RB12. However, both Mercedes drivers impressed at the first round in Bahrain, especially Wehrlein, who won his first ever race in Formula One in a car that was not predicted to be able to do so, while Aarava managed a quieter, but still impressive, fourth place finish. The Mercedes W07 was certainly a lot stronger on race pace than it was in qualifying. He followed up with three third places in a row, showing his consistent form, before finally winning the Canadian Grand Prix next, claiming pole and the fastest lap that race, and inheriting the championship lead by six points, over later championship rival Stoffel Vandoorne, the debutant in the McLaren. Despite losing two positions of the final corner of the Mexican Grand Prix and finishing 4th, Aarava still maintained the championship lead by 3 points. He subsequently came second twice in a row again; Vandoorne finished third and first in those two races, allowing Vandoorne to get in front by 1 point. At a disastrous British race, a damaged Nico Rosberg was re-entering the track, which took out the battling pair of Aarava and his championship rival Vandoorne on lap 23 of 26; while Aarava took front wing damage and had to pit, Vandoorne managed to carry on mostly unscathed, taking the race win, while Aarava struggled home to sixth, in what became a championship-defining race. However, he came back strongly: with a win at a dramatic Italian race, followed by a 2nd, a 3rd and another 3rd, leaving him on 211 points heading into the season finale. In that period of four races, Vandoorne could only manage the podium once, with a win at Abu Dhabi. Therefore, he led Aarava by only four points going into the season finale, the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix. At this stage of the season, the Mercedes was certainly the second quickest car, after extensive development from Toto Wolff's team, with only McLaren faster; therefore, Aarava had a realistic chance of winning the championship. At the final race, Aarava started from sixth while Vandoorne started in third. On the first lap, Vandoorne moved to second while Aarava dropped to seventh: but he quickly fought back to third, in a great show of talent. Aarava made an extra pitstop to the rest of the field; while Vandoorne and the others made two, he made three. Aarava dropped to eighth, which became fifth by the end of lap 25 of 27, and Vandoorne was running in second. He made his way with beautiful overtaking to second ahead of Vandoorne in the middle of lap 27, but Daniel Ricciardo was able to keep first place, meaning Aarava could not overhaul Vandoorne in the championship. With them finishing second and third respectively, Vandoorne won the championship over Aarava by one point. Aarava was determined to get the championship back for 2017. 2017